May 2015

Even though Ben Franklin lived over 200 hundred years ago, his advice is timeless. During Franklin’s time, the medical cure often killed the patient. Too much blood letting and leech treatment led to fatal outcomes. The same can be said for hyper active portfolio management. As Morgan Housel likes to say, “99% of investing is…

My favorite hobby is gardening, and much of what I know about plants I learned through trial and error. I’m also a Certified Financial Planner, and that’s helped me recognize the many parallels between growing your garden and growing your money. Gardening teaches valuable lessons about wealth management. You see the importance of patience, cost…

Osama Bin Laden’s personality traits made him a detestable human being. He most likely would have been an atrocious investor if he would have gravitated toward the field of finance instead of mass murder. Bin Laden constantly sought the reaffirmation of his crazed beliefs. This eventually sealed his fate. This is not unlike the poor…

Financial markets can sometimes resemble an apocalyptic wasteland teeming with the unknown and danger. To survive you must have courage, common sense, and the ability to keep cool under heat. Mad Max A.K.A., “The Road Warrior,” has many of the qualities of a successful investor that you would be wise to emulate. In honor of…

The way the current Stock Market Game is constructed does more harm than good. Winning teams are rewarded for concentrated portfolios, excess leverage, and short-term reactive behaviors. Winners are determined by chance, since many of the games only last for 10-15 weeks. The bigger danger lies in the fact the victorious teams may actually think…

Imagine if you won the lottery. The only thing that could curb your enthusiasm would be a “prize collection fee.” This scam is very rampant among the geriatric set and e-mail notifications from Nigeria. The cost of the ticket was the entry fee. Any additional monetary layout is a sure sign of some form of…